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It only seemed to annoy him. He retired the last two hitters in the first inning on grounders. Pitched around a two-out single in a strong second. Then asked to pitch the third, and he retired three in a row.

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Derek Norris’ two-run double highlighted the four-run first before Hernandez closed out his spring with a line showing four runs (three earned) and four hits in three innings. He threw 60 pitches.

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For the spring, he allowed eight runs and 18 hits in 15 1/3 innings.

"What do you think?" he asked. "Better than last year, probably."

A year ago, Hernandez allowed 14 runs in 12 1/3 innings. Then he opened the season by limiting the Angels to one run over seven innings in a 4-1 victory. He is 6-0 with a 1.49 ERA in eight career starts on opening day.

"It’s different," he said. "You’ve got more adrenaline, more concentration. It’s just different."

The Mariners trailed 7-2 before scoring once in the eighth and twice in the ninth.

PLAY OF THE GAME: A drive by Matt Kemp sailed over the head of right fielder Nelson Cruz to start the fifth inning. Cruz played the carom and made a strong throw to second that easily beat Kemp.

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PLUS: Lefty Mike Montgomery, aided by Cruz’s assist, pitched a one-two-three fifth inning. He also had a clean inning in Monday night’s loss to Cleveland…right-hander Tony Zych pitched out of a first-and-third jam with no outs in the sixth by sandwiching two strikeouts around a soft liner to second. That was the good (see below)…

MINUS: Robinson Cano, after a day off, cooled down from his scorching weekend. He went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts after going 6-for-7 on Saturday and Sunday with four homers…Zych escaped a jam in the sixth inning (see above) but surrendered a two-run homer to Adam Rosales in the seventh after starting the inning by hitting Austin Hedges with a pitch.

STAT PACK: The Mariners are 15-14-2 with two games remaining against Colorado. They need to win at least one to finish with a winning record for fifth time in six years. They were 13-17-2 in 2015…The Mariners struck out 11 times after striking out 12 times in Monday’s loss to Cleveland.

QUOTABLE: Montgomery, a former starter, passed a test in his new role as a reliever by following up a strong inning Monday with another one on Tuesday.

"I really liked what I saw today," manager Scott Servais said. "Good feel for the curveball. He’s done it. That was the big thing, to get him in his mind, that he’s gone back-to-back days. And he had good stuff both days."

UP NEXT: The Mariners have an open date Thursday before concluding their spring schedule with two games against Colorado: 7:10 p.m. Friday at Peoria Stadium and 12:10 p.m. Saturday at Salt River Fields in Scottsdale.

Root Sports Northwest will carry both games.

Hisashi Iwakuma will pitch two-to-three innings Thursday in a minor-league game to stay on schedule for his April 5 start at Texas in the second game of the regular season.

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